Arctic Surface Temperature and Pressure from Argos Buoys (1979-1990)

Argos buoy data from the University of Washington Polar Science Center provides gridded Arctic surface temperature and pressure measurements. The dataset includes temperature records for 1979-1986 and pressure records for 1979-1990, with specific files for January-June and October-December of 1987. It is supplied by the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal trends in gridded surface temperature across the Arctic from 1979 to 1986.
• Model relationships between gridded surface pressure and temperature fields for the overlapping 1979-1986 period.
• Validate reanalysis or climate model outputs for the Arctic using point-source buoy-derived gridded data.
• Study seasonal atmospheric variability by comparing the detailed 1987 buoy records to the longer-term gridded time series.

Strengths

• Temperature data spans 8 years (1979-1986), providing a multi-year baseline.
• Pressure data covers a longer 12-year period (1979-1990) for extended analysis.
• Includes specific, high-temporal-resolution buoy data for key months in 1987.

Limitations

• Data is temporally stale, with the last update recorded at the end of 1990.
• The spatial coverage is limited to buoy deployment locations in the Arctic, not a complete global grid.
• Sample size and row count for the gridded and raw buoy data are unknown.

Provenance

Source

University of Washington Polar Science Center, supplied by the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Collection Method

Collected via Argos satellite-tracked buoys deployed in the Arctic.

Time Range

1979-1990 (temperature: 1979-1986, pressure: 1979-1990, with detailed 1987 records).

Geography

Arctic region, specific to buoy deployment locations.